Poole Swimming Club 90th Anniversary Appeal

Poole Swimming Club celebrates 90 years of swimming!

At PSC, we had hoped to begin 2021 with a bang, celebrating our incredible 90th anniversary of service to swimming in Poole, but we find ourselves in a continued lockdown with further delays before our local swimming pools can reopen and we can resume training. 

Our Southern Junior League winning team in 2019!

1937 Cup & 1981 Poole Pottery mug

Our club was founded on June 1st way back in 1931 and has been teaching local people, young and old, to swim, training them in competitive racing, and in many other aquatic sports including open water swimming, diving, water polo, triathlon and life guarding, both in pools and in the sea. We have also trained and developed generations of swim teachers and coaches, as well as officials, who have continued the vital work of water safety, fitness skills and top level athletic performance over 9 decades!

While we have been locked down and locked out of the pools, we have worked hard to support our swimmers with online fitness, virtual get togethers, education webinars and wellbeing support, to keep our team together, retain our members and plan for our return.

All our usual fundraising methods have been rendered impossible because of Covid19: holding social events, running competitions, selling refreshments, bag packing at our local supermarkets. These would all be part of our regular work to raise funds for our club to function, supplementing our membership fees.

We found ways to innovate and ran a successful Crowdfunder campaign in 2020, with support from our loyal membership and local businesses and we have a new opportunity to raise awareness of our historic anniversary and to raise funds through commemorative merchandise, with our second campaign.

We have an exciting array of merchandise to share with our supporters, to commemorate this historic year in the journey of our swim club.

DON'T FORGET TO SELECT CORRECT SIZING OPTIONS IN REWARDS!

Our fantastic 90th year logo features on PSC commemorative swim hats, which we hope to see being worn in the sea and the pools as soon as possible. Our eager swimmers cannot wait to get back to training and competitions. 

We also have fantastic quality hoodies, also featuring our 90th year logo, as well as PSC 90th anniversary T-shirts. These would make great gifts for swimmers, PSC parents, volunteers and supporters.

We plan to share lots of fascinating updates on this site, guiding you through the incredible journey of PSC from its foundation in 1931 to the present day.

This fantastic photograph, believed to date from 1931, was taken at the original outdoor swimming baths in Kingland Road.

Below left: The late Jean Holland (nee Bartlett) Past PSC President and holder of the British Empire Medal for services to swimming. 

Below right: The PSC Men's Water Polo Team in 1936 with the Dorset Shield

Below right: Jas McCrea, GB 2017 European Junior Team; PSC Head Coach Barry Alldrick & Swim England Head Coach - National Junior Squad; Jacob Peters, Commonwealth Silver Medallist 2018 and GB Tokyo Tracking Team Member at Bath National Swim Centre.

Above left: Assistant Head Coach & Swim England National Development Coach Jan Hutchings pictured with Robbie Hemmings, England National Junior Squad. 

We hope you will enjoy learning more about our club's achievements, our history and the enjoyment and fun our members have experienced over the past 90 years. 

Below, sporting a decidedly retro look in 1980, PSC swimmers at our first international club exchange with Brake, Germany.

We hope you will support us in ensuring we can get back to helping our swimmers return to the sport that they love, after the hardship and frustration they have endured over this past year. 

Our goal at PSC is to ensure our club survives so we can continue to support water safety skills in our local area, physical health, wellbeing and top level sporting achievement opportunities for local people.

Pictured below is former chairman Russ Corn and GB Team's Jacob Peters, receiving a community service award from the Mayor of Poole in 2017.

Poole Swimming Club is proud of its long history of service to the community. This poignant extract from the handwritten Minute Book Archives serves as a reminder that we can get through this final hurdle and fight back, stronger than ever, to rebuild our club.

Do get in touch if you have stories, photographs or mementoes to share. 

We would love to hear from you. 

Here's to the future success of PSC and who knows what our 100th year may bring!

Look out for our striking new PSC shop window in the Dolphin Shopping Centre in Poole! More news on this very soon!